


Family and Fate

by ShadowOA



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Enjoy the pain, can't update my bigger thing for a while, just a short drabble i had laying around, so this is just a feelsy idea i had deep in my blog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 15:02:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,982
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17941940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowOA/pseuds/ShadowOA
Summary: Faced with the pending confession of Shido, Ren is left in a conflicted state. Reflecting on his past prior to Tokyo, he shares something with three of his closest friends that should have been shared long before.





	Family and Fate

The rustling of the Tokyo Subway trains echo within each car. It’s only a few days before Shido confesses his crimes to all of Japan, and the dead man walking…Ren Amamiya is lulled into a sense of comfort to the sounds of the city. What was once such a foreign concept to the country born teen, had now been welcomed into his heart.

The bag he was holding on his lap quakes, as two furry black ears poke out, followed by a whole head of his cat companion Morgana. “You’re awfully calm about all this, Ren. Normally you’d  be at least somewhat nervous after completing a heist…but you seem to be much more quiet than nervous.” The cat says.

Ren’s response is to simply tighten the grey hood keeping himself masked. Morgana bats at one of the strings in annoyance. “Not gonna talk? We’re friends, Ren, it’s fine.” The Phantom simply huffs and goes back into a deep thought process.

Soon the teen and cat arrive back at Leblanc, and Ren immediately heads to bed, no prodding from Morgana at all. This…concerns the cat, so while Ren sleeps, he slips out of the cafe and to the home of one person he knows would share his concern.

“Geez, so much signage for just one rule about no pets. Well, knowing Ryuji he’s probably up late playing video games again. So if I make a loud sound…then…” He paces through the back alleyway until he finds a discarded can, and with one swift kick, manages to make the can crash into the wall of the apartment complex right where Ryuji’s place is.

Almost like clockwork, the bleached blond comes running out of his home, looking ready to defend it from any would be thieves. “Okay who is it this time?!”

“Down here, moron.”

“Wha-Mona? You came here by yourself? …well I mean he can’t really show his face right now but still.” Ryuji gives a sigh. “Look, you need to be careful, come too far on the property and there’s no telling what’ll happen.”

Morgana scratches his left ear. “Well, is there somewhere we can go talk? It’s important…”

Ryuji leads Mona to a small park not too far away from the complex. It’s rundown, and not very pleasing to the eye. They sit on the only bench that looks safe enough. 

“What’s so important that you just had to only get me?”

Morgana’s eyes lower in worry. “Ren…has become less talkative ever since we finished Shido’s Palace.”

Ryuji pets him a bit, nodding slowly “So, is it because of the traumatic shit he had to deal with surrounding his arrest? That’d scar any guy…”

“That’s what I thought at first…but, I’m starting to think that this problem isn’t only about that…Ryuji? Has Ren ever talked about his home life to you?” 

Ryuji responds by shaking his head. “No, he never has. Any mention of his hometown is pretty much anything but his folks. I try not to pry though, for all we know…he could have had a rocky relationship with them.”

Morgana nods. “Maybe we should talk to Futaba.”

“Why? …wait if you’re gonna use the fact she tapped into Ren’s phone to find out some shit then I’m out. Like I just got through saying, if he doesn’t want to tell us then that’s fine.”

“What?! Of course not!” The cat puffs up in offense. “I was just going to ask her if she knows something we don’t. She’s like a little sister to Ren after all…”

 

That morning, Ryuji and Morgana meet with Futaba in her room. With a loud yawn from the bleached teen, he takes a seat on her bed. “Okay, so we need to ask you a few things, Futaba.”

A small laugh comes from the young hacker. “Just name the person and I’ll dig up anything! So who’s information do you need?”

Morgana stretches on Futaba’s pillow. “We want to know if you have any information on our leader’s life back in his hometown.”

Futaba adjusts her glasses and types something on her computer. “Sure! He had pretty good grades at his old high school, he was in the student council there even. But…records show he stopped coming to meetings after a while, which…correlates alongside with his grades slipping as well. And….” She suddenly stops. “Oh would you look at that, the data is corrupted! haha! Can’t show you more than that.”

Ryuji gives her a hard look and sighs. “I’m no tech wiz, but I can tell that info ain’t screwed up.”

Futaba nods slowly “I know…but I just don’t know if I should read the rest…Ren might get mad.”

Morgana jumps on the desk. “Well…he’s not going to tell us, I’ve tried…”

There’s a knock on Futaba’s door. “Futaba? Ren’s here. Seems he needs to talk to you about something.” Sojiro calls out from the other side.

“Shit! What’re we gonna do? Ren’ll see we have a lot of his personal info pulled up and-”

The bedroom door suddenly opens, and Ren steps in. “And? I heard what you guys were saying.”

All three hang their heads low in apology, but Ren just gives them a sigh as a response. “You three really want to know that badly? …I’ll tell you then.”

Ryuji shakes his head, placing a hand on his best friend’s shoulder “Don’t feel forced to tell us, man. I get how hard it is to talk about personal issues.”

“But, maybe it’d best I at least tell you three…just to get it off my chest.” Ren smiles sadly.

He closes the door and leans up against it. “Where to begin…my folks always had high hopes for me. At first, it was nothing more than helping me develop good study habits and whatnot, but….then a few years ago…the Inaba Murders happened. My hometown was all over the news…and my parents worked for the town’s police department, so they were always getting inside information about the case. And they were always out late because of that… One night when I was home alone, the doorbell rang…I answered it, but then headlights from a nearby car flashed and scared whoever it was away..”

He takes a deep breath. “We found out later on, that the person who came to the door could have possibly been the murderer…my parents became super protective after that was brought to light. They started urging me to come home earlier and earlier, even after the culprit was long arrested. They started hovering over every thing I did. If I stayed too late at a friends place, they’d call non stop. If I went to the nearby city to see a movie, they’d follow…it started affecting my social life a lot.”

Ren looks down. “Most of the friends I had started to avoid me, and rumors of me somehow having a curse that may have caused the murders in the first place, hence why I was spared…. Not many took them seriously at first, of course. But it made it hard for me to keep any sort of relationship. To try to combat the constant swing of hovering and loneliness, I started to spend all my time on schoolwork, getting pretty high in my class by my first year. It even earned me a spot on the student council…people were starting to talk to me like a normal person again. And my folks…well they were proud of me.”

A saddened laugh escapes Ren. “Sounds like a happy ending right? Well…right as I was slowly finishing up my first year, there was a car crash. A deadly one. I happened to be walking home from the local Junes, really close to the crash site. Cameras had it recorded and well, the cursed rumors started up again. I was forced to leave the student council due to the rumors becoming the only thing we were asked about. My grades slipped…as I felt that…maybe I really  _was_ the cause of the deaths of those people. Maybe…I really was cursed.”

Ren’s hands curl into fists as he takes a deep breath. “I wanted to have a normal life so desperately. But I found myself getting into arguments with my parents and even former friends, all due to the stress caused by the rumors. My folks, once again tried to be protective of me. They forbid me from going out at night, saying that it’s the only way to avoid trouble. I never listened however. I mean, what would it matter anyway? It’s not like it was going to automatically make the harmful rumors go away…” 

Ryuji nods as Ren keeps talking. “They…weren’t home the day of my arrest. I had just gotten done at the arcade in the city over and I was walking home alone. That’s…when I saw Shido assaulting that woman. I had wanted, for a goddamn while to actually be helpful, to save someone. To..make sure no one had to go through anything like me…then maybe people could see I wasn’t cursed. Or bad…just normal. Just someone needing aid. Instead…of course. I was framed and arrested. The days leading up to my departure to Tokyo were filled with the worst rumors yet. Any remaining friends I had….abandoned me. They even started rumors of their own. And my parents? They sided with Shido…he had them under his thumb like any other policeman. But, they were probably under the impression that I would be safe if they allowed their own son’s reputation to be ruined, rather than stepping up for me..they never even said goodbye to me when I left. No texts, no phone calls…nothing. Even now, I hear nothing from them..”

Ren moves to sit down on the bed, as he puts his head into his hands. “I never wanted any of this to happen…I sometimes miss how often they checked on me. At least then it was obvious that they cared for me…but now…it’s like I don’t even have a family.” He trembles, almost on the verge of tears. “I’ve got all these new expectations placed on me…as a leader…as the Wild Card…but sometimes I feel like I’m back there again. Mishima leaking my record and those rumors starting up at Shujin? It put me back into that dark place. If I never awakened to a Persona, I don’t think I would have survived the year…I was alone…still am…”

Ryuji places a hand on Ren’s shoulder. “Alone? That’s an ‘effing stupid thing to say.” 

Ren stares up at his best friend with a confused look on his face. “Wh-What do you mean Ryu-”

“So a lot of bad shit happened around you…people avoided you. Spread rumors and blamed you… But look what you have now. A group of misfits, who’re more than happy to be your new family. We won’t abandon you, I swear to my bones.”

Futaba stands up and nods. “Me too! You’re not cursed Ren! I promise!”

Ren laughs, pain still in his voice. “But…I couldn’t even save Akechi. Another person got hurt…lost their life….because I got involved and…”

Futaba hugs Ren tight wrapping her arms around him to the best of her ability. “Please Ren…don’t blame yourself…you’re not cursed! I promise you that.”

Morgana curls up in Ren’s lap as he starts to slowly pet him. “You guys…thank you. Maybe you’re right. Maybe, I can make things better for others. So they don’t need to be in constant fear like I was. I shouldn’t let the past affect my present.”

Futaba giggles. “Yeah! And it’ll all start with Shido confessing!”

“Yeah…thanks guys, for everything.”


End file.
